This past week we played T.I.M.E Stories in class. It was quite a fun game. The story is very intriguing, but I’m unsure of how it will eventually resolve, as I don’t think we’ve gotten very far before the end of class. The gameplay aspect I liked the most was resetting the time. It reminds me of some of my favorite roguelike video games, Risk of Rain 2 and Hades, in that while you lose some of your progress, the most valuable thing carrying over is your learned knowledge of the game. I can’t wait to run it back next week.
The most difficult aspect of playing the game was certainly learning the basics of how to play. There’s many moving parts and when playing it for the first time, it’s very overwhelming. Now having gotten through a full cycle of the game, I’m quite sure that I understand how to play the game properly. An aspect of the game I’m still learning is combat. In that first cycle, I never had to enter into combat, but even at opportunities where I could, from my understanding, I would’ve lost very badly and been killed/knocked out. One aspect I do not like is the skill checks. Every so often a location would have a challenge to beat, but out of the 4 or so challenges that I’ve encountered, my character has not had any skill points in that area being checked. That led to my group and I having to spend even more time at a location that might not even have been worth it.
It’s very easy to see and understand how this game ties into leadership. To start, the game requires someone to be the “Time Captain”, an in-game leader that helps facilitate the game to run smoothly. Next, someone has to keep track of all of the information that’s discovered to make sure that no little detail is left unremembered. A potential outlet for leadership for this game could be role-playing. It’s not required by any means and would have little effect on the overall flow of the game, but someone could lead a group into that.
Monthly Archives: November 2024
T.I.M.E. Stories Week 1
This week we played T.I.M.E stories, a fun cooperative game where we are traveling through time to complete a specific goal. It honestly gives me escape room vibes. This was a very fun start to the game. In my group, there were only two players so I got the chance to play as two characters throughout the game: Madeleine who gets anxiety attacks and Fredrick who has shock paralysis. My teammate played as a bitter woman and someone else who I’ve forgotten
The challenging part about the game was that there was not much instruction on how to play the game. The tutorials were trying very hard not to spoil the narrative, so a lot of the info we received didn’t fully encapsulate the game. I also found it hard to navigate certain information. For instance, one of the characters I played, Fredrick, had a certain problem fighting when there are 1-2 shield in play. I didn’t realize this until playing the game a few times, so I ended up playing my character wrong (oh well).
This game uses a lot of leadership since it is a cooperative game. Luckily for my team, there were only two of us (and my teammate took the leader role). We didn’t have any quarrels or trouble, and I like that my teammate took the lead since I was a little lost with the play through. But if there were more team members, I think this game would’ve really tested our cooperative and communication skills. We have to convince each other which characters go where and battle obstacles together. All in all, it’s a very fun game. It’s one that I am recommending to my family and will absolutely convince them to play.
Blood on the Clock Tower
Happy Halloween! In this spooky night, we played Blood on the Clock Tower. There was around 13 players; 4 knew how to play and the rest did not. I was one of the few who did not know how to play, and I also happened to be the town drunk, which did not help me learn what I was doing. In other words, I was the empath (on the good side). I had the ability to know if anyone sitting next to me was evil. However, I was also secretly the drunk so my ability was void throughout the game and I didn’t even know it. So the whole time, I thought my two friends were good, but one was actually the poisoner (awkward).
(hardest part) The game itself was a little confusing because the roles were a little vague and it was a lot. I couldn’t keep up with some of the player’s logic (the one’s who have played before). But I definitely would want to play again. I’m not entirely sure if I like blood on the clock tower over ultimate werewolf. But I do love that it takes more time and you can talk with people separately. I also like the aspect where certain conditions (recluse, drunk, saint, ect.) can be given to good players and they don’t even know it.
Not really sure how this game demonstrates leadership. I could argue it has the mob mentality, like in Ultimate werewolf, but I didn’t really see that in our game. What I did notice was that people who have experience with the game can notice/talk about details. For instance, I was the empath, so someone asked me how many numbers I got (from 0-2) indicating how many next to me are evil. I was expecting them to ask me if there was anyone next to me that was evil, so I was expecting to give them a name not a number (or a yes or no answer). The game was lead by someone who knew the game very well. So I got to witness an experienced leader, and compare it to an inexperienced leader (myself). Hands down, experience wins. They can see and think in ways I could not. But by being around an experienced leader, I slowly started to understand the tricks. Thus, it never hurts to have someone with experience lead. In fact, it’s probably more beneficial for everyone.